the esplanade - present and past

ask any young person today where the esplanade is and invariably you will be directed to the structure that resembles a durian. in the past, when we referred to the esplanade, it was to this waterfront that begins where the singapore river ends. the tree-lined promenade is actually called queen elizabeth walk. the name esplanade is used to refer to the park.

the esplanade park was where lovers strolled hand in hand along queen elizabeth walk as they listened to the waves crashing against the sea walls. within the park, there are a number of monuments like the tan kim seng fountain, the lim boh seng memorial, the cenotaph and the indian national army monument.

before the esplanade theatre was built, there was a semi-circular building which was a restaurant and cafe of sort. in the day, especially in the morning, it was quite deserted. the crowd came only in the evening. as such, in the morning, this quiet and breezy place was quite conducive to some self-study or revision.

as our school was nearby, in my secondary four year, we - me and my friend chye heng - used to skip school to study either at his home or at the esplanade.

travelling to mainland china by ship

nowadays, it is almost unheard of - travelling on a passenger-cum-cargo ship to china. but that's what the older folks did, up to the late 70s, when they returned to their hometown to visit their relatives and friends. nothing of the cruise ship's kind of travel and comfort. more like huddled together in a tight space and during the week-long journey, enduring seasickness and hunger because of the loss of appetite and the not very appetising food.

to make the trip, the elderly folks had to scrimp and save for a few years. months before the trip, they would start collecting used clothes and other used stuff. they would also store up on non-perishables like canned food, medication and herbs which they would bundle together with other odds and ends. these would be sent to the agent whose duty was to ensure that the things got on board the ship. i remember watching my mother using cloth remnants to stitch into blankets and these would keep somebody warm in china.

other preparations for the trip included going to the agent who also doubled as the letter-writer - who lived at sophia road - to write notes to her relatives in china to let them know of the name of the ship, the expected date of arrival at the port in fujian and the name of her agent. if i am not wrong, the name of my mother's agent was hock ann.

on the day of the journey, they would board a tongkang at clarke quay which would take them to the ship anchored out in the sea. my mother would have a hand-carry bag with her. the other stuff would be in bags or sacks with identification tags. her agent would help with the tagging of the bags.

i remember accompanying her once to the ship to see her off. we were even allowed onboard the ship to have a look around. i have a faint picture of the abject kind of accommodation they had on the ship - a crammed, gloomy deck where each traveller had a bunk bed with all his stuff strewn on the floor.

i think the journey to china took about 5 days or longer and it was not uncommon for them to suffer from seasickness during the journey. however, the thought of seeing their loved ones and friends was enough for them to endure all the hardships and unpleasantness on the ship.

canoeing - yesterday & today

the canoeing scene has changed somewhat over the years. when we first started in the 60s, there were not many fibreglass canoes, so some of us had to make do with wooden sampans. they were heavier, not so sleek and so needed more strength and effort to manoeuvre.

today, they have both kayaks and canoes, all made of light-weight material. they also have different classes of kayaks, from k1 to k4. those early days, we had only c1 and c2 categories for canoes. nowadays, they even have the canadian kayaks.

those days, all canoes belonged to schools or organisations. these days, some students have their personal canoes or kayaks. a k1 imported kayak costs around $4320 and a k4 cost about $12k.

not many schools and colleges were into canoeing in the past because not many teachers were trained in this water sports. more schools are involved these days and the teachers in charge need not have any knowledge of the sports, there are local as well as imported coaches, mainly from china, to take care of the training.

in the past, we used to carry out our training sessions in the sea off changi. presently, there are two main training areas for students, one at macritchie reservoir and the other at bedok reservoir. in the sea, there is scope for varying our training grounds whereas in the reservoirs, every canoeist is expected to stay within a designated area.

i was trying to point out to my friend, who is still involved in coaching, that nowadays the students do not enjoy the variety of activities that we had. instead of training all the time, we organised overnight canoeing expeditions to pulau ubin. seems like now, it is the only island available for such an activity; the other islands like seletar, tekong and coney are out-of-bounds to the public.

west coast park area 3 & sea
















up to the 70s, all these types of boats were moored at clifford pier. most of these boats are used by weekend fishermen.















some upgrading work is still going on in west coast park area 3 at the area fronting the sea. the upgrading is expected to be completed by the end of the year. this project is next to the adventure land, one of the largest of its kind in singapore.













































i think these are trumpet flowers. they do look like trumpets, anyway. the ones found growing in west coast park belong to the yellow variety. other colours they come in are white, red and purple.

some people warn that all parts of this plant are poisonous. however, according to another source, only the seeds and flowers are poisonous if ingested.

punggol point and coney island





















coney island (pulau serangoon) used to be a popular island retreat for weekenders. it was also popular with water skiiers when punggol boatel was nearby. today, it looks like a restricted place - hardly anybody goes there. in my 3-year old street directory, there are planned roads linking coney island to the mainland. there is also a network of roads planned for the 50-hectare island.

today, i went down to punggol east to check if any development had taken place. i found out that the whole thing was still in its planning stage. i walked along the coast to the right of the jetty until i could see coney island. it's only about 100m from the mainland. in the past, coney island was quite bare but today it appears to be covered by a luxuriant growth of greenery.

i do not know if any land reclamation had taken place. this was supposed to double the size of the island. there are plans to build three bridges to link it to the mainland, one solely for pedestrians and the other two to carry both vehicular and human traffic.

when we first started teaching in the early 70s, we would canoe from pasir ris - where our canoes/sampans were stored - to frog island and to coney island. after our picnic, we would paddle back to pasir ris.































as i strolled along the rocky coastline of punggol, i came across this snail on the wall of a drain. it does not look like a land snail. wonder if it is a sea snail or some aquatic snail.

crabs at punggol point

today, at about 5.00 p.m. the tide was out. at punggol point, not far from the jetty - where trainees take the bum-boat to outward bound school - the low tide reveals a patch of rocky shoreline. saw a number of people, mainly children, looking for creatures among the rocks.

when i went nearer to the group of children, i found that they had a few small crabs, a small lobster and later, they added a starfish in their small plastic container. nearby, an uncle and his niece were also hunting for the same things. they had three small crabs in a smaller container.

there were lots of tiny crabs hidden under the rocks. all the hunters had to do was to move the rock and the tiny crabs would be scurrying all over the place. they used small scoops to handle the crabs. they left the babies alone and went for the slightly bigger ones, those that were at least 3cm long.

the crabs were neither fiddler crabs nor coral spider crabs. they look like a smaller version of the normal swamp crabs.

when i asked the children what they would be doing with the crabs, i did not get a response from them.

reminded me of the time when we were in england and came across these children catching crabs in a stream. asked what they would do to the crabs, they replied that they would release them back into the stream at the end of it all. they did it just for enjoyment.

sim poh air

since my retirement at the end of 2006, i have come to know a number of new names, like khaya senegalensis, bismark, licuala grandis, ocimum basilicum, pandanus utilis and simpoh air. they are familiar to me because i always meet them during my walk at the parks, nature reserves and even at lim chu kang.

i know one chap called sim poh heng and a girl named sim poh choo. but, it was only this year that i learnt of the name simpoh air.

the simpoh air plant is very common in singapore. you can find them at wasteland, swampy areas and at the edge of the forests. they have large leaves and large yellow flowers. the fruit is red with seeds covered in red flesh in its numerous segments.

the leaves of this plant have been used to wrap food such as tempeh or they can be formed into a holder to contain rojak. at one time, the chee cheong fun seller also used to dish out his food on this leaf. the tailor bird use the leaves to make its nest.

"the plant blooms from age 3-4 and can live for 50-100 years! plants in the simpoh family (dilleniaceae) hiss when the trunk or a branch is cut (you have to put your ear to the cut to hear it). the sound comes from the air that is sucked into the cut vessels."

dinner at bottletree park

although i have visited the park a couple of times, today is the first time i ate at the restaurant at bottletree park. bottletree park is at yishun while the one at sembawang is called bottletree village. they are under the same management.

bel invited us to join her brother's family for a thanksgiving dinner. she did not tell us that it was also her birthday dinner. her brother victor and his wife carol came with their two daughters and the boy friend of one of their daughters, natasha.

we had chilli crabs, cereal prawns, yam basket, kailan, chicken fried in dried chilli, claypot tofu and mantou. the bill came up to nearly $200.

bottletree is no longer a place for budget meals. when it first started as sembawang seafood restaurant, prices were pegged more for pockets of the working class type. today, with upgrading, they seem to be reaching out to a different clientele.

dragon boat tragedy in cambodia

until this tragedy, i have not realised that, in most instances, the paddlers do not wear life vests. i studied some pictures of dragon boat races and found only in one picture were the paddlers wearing life-vests. it was a team of female paddlers.

i asked my good friend who is involved in coaching, if this - no life vests worn - was the standard practice. according to him, it has been done all the time, even in singapore. i have also seen pictures where the rowers were all bare bodied.

then i asked him another question: aren't all dragon boat participants supposed to be able to swim? not all of them are competent swimmers; some are not very strong or good swimmers. according to him, in that kind of situation, with strong currents and swirling waters, even a good swimmer could find himself in trouble.

the team that went to cambodia was a hastily assembled team. it comprised members from the universities, polytechnics, armed forces, macpherson dragon boat club and others. the incident happened after they had completed a race and when they decided to continue with a practice run.

the standard crew complement of a contemporary dragon boat is around 22, comprising 20 paddlers in pairs facing toward the bow of the boat, 1 drummer or caller at the bow facing toward the paddlers, and 1 steerer or tiller(helm) at the rear of the boat, although for races it is common to have just 18 paddlers.

of the 22 members, 17 were rescued and 5 are still missing.

the prime minister went on national tv to say that he was saddened by what happened and that he shared the deep concerns of the families members of the 5 missing singaporeans.

wantan mee @ 128 tembeling road

unlike some people, i don't know how to appreciate the soup version of wantan mee. every time i eat wantan mee, it has to be the dry version with a bit of chilli. so was it today when i ate at hong mao noodle.

joo chiat area seems to have more than its fair share of good wantan mee stalls. besides hong mao noodle, there is fei fei at 62 joo chiat place (there is more than one fei fei in joo chiat) and eng's wantan noodles at dunman food centre.

at hong mao, i like the wantan but find the noodles, just so so. it seems like all the popular wantan mee stalls, with the exception of the sin hoe hin at rowell road, share one common feature - long waiting time for your food. at 128 food corner, you can expect to wait up to 45 minutes for your wantan mee. (this afternoon, went to eat at telok blangah drive, waited 30 minutes for the wantan mee which we polished off in less than 10 minutes.)

my own ranking of the wantan mee stalls that i have tried so far is: 1st kok kee @ lavendar food court; 2nd sin hoe hin @ 12 rowell road; and 3rd hong ji mian shi jia @ telok blangah drive.

the shrill call of the cicada

many people who venture into a tropical rainforest and get assailed by a high-pitch call, tend to attribute it to the cricket. the shrill sound is actually produced by the male cicadas, just as the chirping sounds are made by the male crickets.

male cicadas have loud noisemakers called 'timbals' on the sides of their abdominal base. the cicadas produce sounds by vibrating rapidly the membranes found within its abdomen. they modulate the sounds by moving their abdomens towards and away from the tree trunk.

some cicadas produce sounds louder than 106dB, which is the loudest among insect-produced sounds.

different species have different mating sounds (songs) to attract the mate from the appropriate species. the intensity of the sound also acts as an effective bird repellent. the males tend to gather to create a greater sound intensity to repel avian predators.

(top picture is a cricket; below it, a cicada. the cicada was on a tree at west coast park when i photographed it)

pandan reservoir

there is not much of a park at pandan reservoir. in fact, it serves mainly as a storage place for non-potable water which is supplied to the industries in the western part of singapore, particularly to the jurong industrial estate.

the reservoir is formed by the damming of sungei pandan. you can tell that the water in this reservoir is not as clear or as clean as that in the other reservoirs. however, though fishing is not permitted in the pandan reservoir, there are sizeable fish in the waters.

i followed a red arowana swimming at the edge of the water. as i walked further, i came across two fairly large aruan also by the water edge.

found some creepers bearing pods along a track away from the reservoir. along the perimeter of the reservoir, there is a track. met a solitary jogger all the time i was there. if i had walked at my usual pace, i think i would take about an hour to cover the whole perimeter.

the s'pore rowing association has its centre located at 249 jalan buroh. the rowing boats and a couple of dragon boats are stored there. they use the reservoir for their training sessions and i believe rowing competitions are also being held at pandan reservoir.

whistling ducks @ west coast park's marsh land

the first time i saw such ducks was at the symphony lake at the botanic gardens. later i learnt that they had been sighted at the sungai buloh wetlands, kranji marshes and at the shores of pulau tekong besar. there was also a report that jurong bird park had some of them. today i came across a flock of eight lesser whistling ducks at the marsh garden of west coast park 3.

according to an article on the internet, the lesser whistling duck is a threatened species in singapore. there are not more than 200 of them in the wild.

lesser whistling ducks tend to be quite shy; when you get too close to them, they will fly away. this duck flies like a goose with its long neck sticking out and drooping below the body, and wings beating rapidly.

door to door castration of cockerels service

when we lived in a kampong and reared chickens, my mother would reserve the largest cockerels as offerings to the sky god (tnee kong) on the 9th day of the lunar new year.

to ensure that the prized birds grew to the desired size, she had them castrated when the cocks reached a certain age/size. no, she did not and could not do the job herself. you needed skill, knowledge and experience to perform the delicate operation successfully. there was this man - he carried his tools in a deep cane basket - who would move from kampong to kampong to do the caponization.

i had watched him doing his work often enough to know how it was done. first, he would grab the wings of the cockerel and with a swift twist locked them together. to immobolise the bird further, he would step on their legs. the bird had to be stretched out to its full length to expose the rib cage area. feathers in this rib cage area were removed and the skin disinfected.

using a sharp scalpel or knife, an incision was made. he had to make sure the incision was deep enough to expose the abdominal air sac covering the intestines and the other organs. he would use two rust-proof clips, one on each side of the opening, to stretch the incision and keep it open.

with a thin fishing line attached to the end of a rod, he would insert it into the hole and skilfully worked on dislodging the testes, one at a time. another of his tool was a scoop which he used to fish out the testes. he would drop the removed teste into a container of water. the testes were yellowish in colour and each, the size of a peanut.

not all operations,however, were successful. once in a while, one of the cockerels would succumb to infection and die.

chick, cock, cockerel, pullet, hen & capon

do you know the difference between a cock and a cockerel? a pullet and a hen? and do you know what a capon is?

a young chicken is called a chick. a male chicken is a cock or a cockerel, depending on its age. similarly, a female chicken is called a pullet or a hen. the age at which a pullet becomes a hen and a cockerel becomes a cock depends on what type of chicken is being raised. purebred poultry producers have very age-specific definitions. a chicken is a cockerel or pullet if it is less than one year of age.

after one year of age, the chicken is referred to as a hen or cock. in the commercial industry a female chicken is called a hen after it begins egg production (around five months of age). a sexually mature male chicken (again, around five months of age) is referred to as a rooster. a capon is a castrated male chicken.

i remember when the children were younger, we decided to let them have the experience of rearing chicks. we bought some baby chicks from a shop at kallang bahru and kept them in a cage. this cage was placed in a recess area outside our front door. the chicks made so much noise, especially at night, that it upset our immediate neighbour. eventually, lay bee took them to school and left them in the school garden, where there were other chickens.

kindergarten @ foochow methodist church

we never had any pre-school education, so when it came to our children, we made sure that they were not deprived of this experience.

when we were living at towner road, newton life church and foochow methodist church kindergartens were about the two nearest kindergartens which were affiliated to churches.

both ivy and ida attended the foochow methodist church kindergarten at race course road. they were placed in this kindergarten because we happened to know dr gong (who emigrated to australia in the 60s) who was related to the principal.

ivy had started attending k1 at foochow methodist church kindergarten. the next year she was moved to the kindergarten at newton life church because lay bee's pei hwa colleague's (ms tang) sister was the principal of the centre. the following year she joined the pre-primary programme at pei chun public school in lorong 6 toa payoh.

ida also started at foochow methodist church kindergarten before switching to attending the pcf kindergarten at the void deck of our block (104) at towner road. it seemed that she had not enjoyed the pre-school experience because of the discomfort she felt while riding the bus to the kindergarten at race course road.

i think for both of them the high point of their attendance at the kindergarten was their performance at the end of the school year's concerts where parents were invited to watch.

have you ever played with mud?

children in days of yore were so inventive in coming up with games of their own. there might be no tangible gains whatsoever in winning but it was the enjoyment of it that mattered. we enjoyed playing a game because it provided us a chance to hone our skills. it also made us think of how to improve on our technique and to make sure we got it right everytime. it did not have to benefit us materially or financially.

like this game we played, using mud to make a shallow dish. we used the yellow clay to mould a dish to fit into our palm. the base of the dish was flat. this game was usually played between two contestants; however, we would accommodate more. in the case where we had four contestants, then we could pair up and played as two teams.

the objective was to throw the mud dish onto the floor so that the impact would cause the base to burst. the winner of the game was the one who managed to get the base of his dish to open up. in the case where both dishes were broken, then the one with the bigger crack won.

so, when we moulded the dish, we did not wet the side as much as the base. this was to ensure that the whole dish did not collapse when hurled onto the ground. there were some who believed that if you thinned the base, it would burst easily on impact.

you would not think that anyone would cheat when it came to playing this game. yes, there were dishonest ones. these were those frustrated ones who could not achieve any 'break through' with their mud dishes and who then resorted to cheating. they would use their finger to poke the base just before the throw.

in those days, we had not known or heard of meliodosis - the disease that is caused by playing in the mud or being in constant contact with mud. so, we played without fear.

former bt panjang child welfare clinic


this colourful building at 24 woodlands road used to be the bukit panjang child welfare clinic. it was officially opened in 1950. when we moved into the bukit panjang housing estate in 1997, it was still operating as a government clinic.

today it is a child development school (kindergarten) known as the learning ladder. at least, it is still involved in the welfare of the child though you have to pay a substantial fee to avail your child of its services.

it has a rather small car-park and in the mornings, when i see parents/guardians driving their children/wards to the place, they all seem to have a hard time manoeuvring their vehicles out of the confined space.

sweet basil (ocimum basilcum)


my neighbour, who grows his basil in the 'public private garden', has been advising my wife to get the basil leaves from the garden to fry with eggs. according to him, eating basil is good for health. it seems to me a lot of things that we eat are good for our health and yet a lot of us are still afflicted by hypertension and high cholesterol.

sweet basil, with its wonderful aroma and flavour, is one of the most popular and widely grown herbs in the world. we tend to associate basil with italian cooking, so it may surprise you to learn that basil originated in the far east, in countries like india, pakistan and thailand.

basil has been cultivated for over 2000 years and it symbolizes love. at one time young girls would place some on their windowsill to indicate they were looking for a suitor. small pots of this were given by farmers' wives to visitors as parting gifts. it is also reputed that any man will fall in love with a woman from whom he accepts some basil from as a gift.

fresh basil is the perfect candidate for freezing, either whole or chopped. blanch whole leaves for two seconds, plunge into ice water, pat dry and place in airtight bags in the freezer. flavour will be stronger if you don't thaw before using.

another option is to put whole or chopped fresh leaves in an ice cube tray and cover with water or broth before freezing. once frozen, pop the cubes out into an airtight bag. use the cubes in soups, stews or sauces. frozen basil should be used within four months.

basil is readily available in dried form ( i use a lot of this when i cook my pizza paste), but it cannot compare in flavour to fresh basil. dried basil should be stored in a cool, dark place away from heat and light. dried herbs lose their potency within six months, even under the best conditions. it's best to buy small amounts so you can use it up faster. when dried, basil loses much of its intensity.

the basil plant needs continuous pruning to stimulate growth. recommended interval is about once every four weeks. it is important to keep basil cut back so you have a continual harvest of fresh leaves. it is also important not to let the plants slated for culinary use flower, or the leaves will begin to taste bitter.

another mystery house (villa)

another house that intrigues me is this black and white villa at bukit chermin, to the left of the keppel golf club. although it appears to be well-maintained, i have yet to see anyone at the house or near the house.

like the house at lim chu kang, this one, though not built over the sea, also faces the sea. however, this is a posh mansion and i can presume that it must belong to someone who is/was quite wealthy.

seems like i am not the only one who likes to know who owns the place. the other day, when we were on the superstar virgo coming back to the cruise centre, sabrina asked me if i knew anything about the black and white villa.

now, with the opening of the extension at labrador park, more people will be wondering about the ownership of this villa and why such a nice building is not being put to use. at the park extension, this house is even closer to the public's view.

mystery of house by the sea

sometimes when you keep searching for the answer to a question/mystery, it just eludes you. then, when you least expect it, the answer presents itself. i have always wondered how to get to this white building which i can see in the distance from the jetty at lim chu kang end.

this large house, built over the sea, faces the straits of johor. could not tell if it was occupied as details were out of my vision range. it is not possible to get to the house by walking along the beach because of the muddy coast and the mangrove swamps. logically, it can be accessed from lim chu kang but the problem was: from which part of lim chu kang?

today, i decided to take a drive to lane 9 lim chu kang. feeling a bit adventurous also, i parked the car by the side of the road and, armed with a long stick - in case of dog/s - i ventured to follow an obscure track to its end. the paved track gave way to an unpaved path which ran alongside a swamp.

first, i saw a shed, then some flowering plants and then the very house which had set me wondering everytime i looked at it from the fishermen's jetty at lim chu kang end. the house appeared a bit run-down, with some tiles having been displaced. however, i could see a fridge and some other household items - evidence that it was occupied. as if to prove my point, someone emerged from one of the rooms.

it is such a wonderful hideaway house. it is located by the seaside and it is so nicely tucked away that only the odd hikers who happen to stumble upon it will be the ones to disturb the peace and serenity of the place. it is an ideal hide-out; you cannot see it from the road (lane 9) and anyway, hardly anyone goes to that area. you will not expect to find a house at the end of those tracks.

the site will be great for a restaurant. but, first they must clear all the flotsam - likely to have been brought in by the tide from across the straits - at the mangrove area because it is a real eye-sore.

the many benefits of walking

walking is a relaxing and enjoyable way to keep healthy and, as it requires no equipment or expense, it is the perfect way to exercise.

men who walk at least 2.4km per day has a 50% reduced risk of developing heart disease compared to men who walk less 400m per day. walking speed does not matter as long as the distance is covered, and overall, risk decreases 15% for each 880m walked per day.

for senior citizens, walking seems to protect the aging brain from dementia and alzheimer's disease.

the many benefits of walking:

1. promotes psychological well-being and reduces feelings of stress and depression


2. reduces tiredness and gives people more energy for everyday tasks


3. promotes better sleep


4. helps the muscles and ligaments in the feet to work more efficiently, and keep them supple and flexible


5. reduces depression and anxiety


6. helps people achieve and maintain a healthy body weight


7. helps build and maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints


8. helps to reduce the risks of many serious health problems in old age


9. helps to reduce the risk of developing non-insulin-dependent (type 2) diabetes mellitus


10. helps to reduce the risks of developing osteoporosis


11. helps to reduce the risk of developing coronary heart disease (chd)


12. helps to lower the risk of developing high blood pressure


13. helps to reduce blood pressure in people who already have hypertension


14. helps to lower total blood cholesterol


15. helps to reduce the risk of stroke


16. helps to reduce the risk of developing colon and breast cancer

longer moderately paced walks (40 mins at 60-65% maximum heart rate) are best for losing weight – up to 300 calories per hour

shorter, faster walks (20 mins at 75-85% maximum heart rate) are best for improving heart and lung function

my own walking programme

on wednesday and friday mornings, i walk with my former balestier hill secondary school colleagues. once a month, on a saturday morning, i go for (a) nature walk with my former students, also from balestier hill secondary. on the other mornings, with the exception of sunday, i walk on my own, usually at either bukit batok nature park or at bukit timah nature reserve. sunday is the only day i do not have any scheduled walk.

occasionally, i get victor, my former colleague from monk's hill secondary, to join me in my morning exercise.

sembawang park re-visited

this distinctive shelter is found only in sembawang park. a quiet park on weekdays, it comes alive on weekends when families from the yishun area gather to barbeque, swim, fish or camp.

this is a view of beaulieu house from the back. built in 1910, it is now a seafood restaurant which also caters to wedding and birthday parties. my friend victor, a loyal customer of the restaurant, had followed the move of the restaurant. the few years when it ceased operation at beaulieu house, it was, first, at safra yacht club and then, at the cdans club along canberra road before moving back to beaulieu house.

the sembawang shipyard, which used to be a british naval base from 1938 to 1968, is just next to the park. in the 70s we used to fish from the sembawang jetty, from which i took this photograph.

sembawang park is one of the few places fronting the sea where camping is allowed. these days, you do not need a permit to camp on weekends or public holidays but you need a permit for weekday camping. registration for a permit is done by the park ranger who comes around with a hand-held scanner to scan your identity card.

camping is also permitted at changi beach, east coast park areas c and d, pasir ris and west coast park.

mosque at jalan mempurong

went down to sembawang to take pictures of this kampong mosque thinking that it would be demolished soon. instead found that it was undergoing upgrading - the whole structure was being re-roofed and they were making some additions and alterations to it. looks like the appeal to have it designated as a national heritage has been successful.

patrons of the seafood restaurant at bottle tree village will have to drive past this 48-year old mosque on the way to the village. on fridays, it is not a good idea to have lunch at the restaurant because you will have to naviagate very carefully as many cars belonging to worshippers will be parked by the side of jalan mempurong.

the mosque was built in 1959 by villagers in the area with the help of the lee foundation. it was the focal point of the kampung there. the kampung's residents moved out decades ago, but return there to pray every friday and on special occasions, like hari raya.

picture of masjid petempatan melayu sembawang before its upgrading. the mosque is expected to re-open in february 2008.